CAT 2012 - Common Admission Test

CAT 2012 or Common Admission Test is the main entrance exam for MBA aspirants to get admission in Top B-Schools of India like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta amongst many others. CAT 2012 will be conducted by the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) for admission to various levels of management courses like MBA, PGDM etc.

Apart from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, and Kozhikode, CAT 2012 is also a mandatory entrance examination for several other leading management institutes like Kirloskar Institute of Management, S.P. Jain Institute and few others.

Every year more than two lakh students appear for CAT and for CAT 2012, the number is expected to touch around 2.25 Lakh. The competition between CAT aspirants is very tough for IIMs and the other reputed institutes.

CAT aspirants often start preparing for CAT almost one year in advance and prepare themselves by joining various specialized coaching institutes like Career Launcher, TIME, IMS etc.

CAT 2011 Exam Dates - CAT 2011 Notification

The dates of the Common Admission Test (CAT 2011) have been released by the IIMs. The test would be conducted online during a 20-day testing window between October 22, 2011 and November 18, 2011. Here is some important dates for CAT 2011.

• Examination Name - Common Admission Test (CAT) – 2011
• Notification Issue Date - Sunday, 7 August 2011
• Sale of CAT Vouchers - Wednesday, 17 August 2011 - Monday, 26 September 2011
• Registration For CAT 2011 - Wednesday, 17 August 2011 - Wednesday, 28 September 2011
• CAT 2011 Exam Dates - From Saturday, 22 October 2011 - Friday, 18 November 2011
• Last Date For Receipt of Application Forms - Wednesday, 28 September 2011
• CAT 2011 Result - Wednesday 11 January 2012
• Further Details on CAT 2011 available at: www.catiim.in

IIM Centres in India

• IIM Ahmedabad

Vastrapur
Ahmedabad-380015
(Phone: 079-26324632)
www.iimahd.ernet.in

• IIM Bangalore

Bannerghatta Road
Bangalore-560076.
(Phone: 080-26993188)
www.iimb.ernet.in

• IIM Calcutta

D.H. Road, Joka
Kolkata-700104
(Phone: 033-24679178)
www.iimcal.ac.in

• IIM Indore

Pigdamber, Rau
Indore-453331
(Phone: 0731-5058785)
www.iimidr.ac.in

• IIM Kozhikode

P. O., Kozhikode-673570
(Phone: 0495-2809213)
www.iimk.ac.in

• IIM Lucknow

Prabandh Nagar
Off Sitapur Road
Lucknow-226013
(Phone: 0522-2734028)
www.iiml.ac.in

• IIM Shillong

Mayurbhanj Complex
Nongthymmai
Shillong-793014
(Phone: 0364-2308005 & 2308000)
www.iimshillong.in

• IIM Ranchi

Suchna Bhavan
5th Floor, Audrey House Campus
Meur's Road, Ranchi - 834 008
Tel: +91 0651 2280113
Fax: +91 0651 2280940
www.iimranchi.ac.in

• IIM Rohtak

Humanities Block, M D University, Rohtak
Haryana, India - 124 001
Telephone No - Direct to Operator 218900  
ISD Code -  91   
STD Code - 01262
www.iimrohtak.ac.in/

• IIM Tiruchirappalli

National Institute of Technology
Tanjore Main Road
National Highway 67
Tiruchirappalli - 620015
Tamil Nadu
www.iimtrichy.ac.in/

• IIM Udaipur

Address: Polymer Science Building.
Mohan Lal Sukhadia University Campus
Udaipur 312001
Rajasthan, INDIA
info@iimudaipur.ac.in
www.iimu.ac.in

• IIM Raipur

Government Engineering College (GEC)
Raipur
Chattisgarh.

IIMs Interactive Voice Response System Numbers (IVRS)

• IIM Ahmedabad : 079-26307258
• IIM Bangalore : 080-26484650
• IIM Calcutta : 033-24380266
• IIM Indore : 0731-4058371
• IIM Kozhikode : 0495-2803005
• IIM Lucknow : 0522-2736666

CAT 2012 Sample Papers with Solutions - Download CAT Papers

Here is the list of some exclusive CAT sample papers with solutions and CAT past year papers with solutions which will help you prepare for CAT 2012

CAT Sample Papers with Solutions - CAT Question Papers - CAT Mock Papers - CAT Papers

CAT Sample Paper - 1CAT Sample Paper - 2
CAT Sample Paper - 3CAT Sample Paper - 4
CAT Sample Paper - 5CAT Sample Paper - 6
CAT Sample Paper - 7CAT Sample Paper - 8

CAT Previous Year Papers with Solutions - CAT past year papers

CAT 1999 Paper with SolutionsCAT 2006 Paper with Solutions

CAT 2012 Books - CAT Preparation

Here is the list of some popular books for CAT 2012 Preparation -

1. Oswaal Chapter-Wise Solutions of CAT (1993 - Nov.2008) Solved Paperby Panel of Experts
   Price: Rs.303/-
2. Arihant Quantum CAT For Admission into IIMsby Sarvesh Kumar Verma
   Price: Rs.490/-
3. How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for the CATby Arun Sharma
   Price: Rs.450/-
4. The Complete CAT Digestby Arun Sharma
   Price: Rs.525/-
5. How to Prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning for the CATby Arun Sharma
   Price: Rs.395/-
6. How to Prepare for the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for the CATby Arun Sharma & Meenakshi Upadhyay
   Price: Rs.495/-

More books for CAT preparation like CAT Sample Papers, CAT past year papers with solutions is available at www.indiabooks.in

Quantitative Ability (QA): In this section, mostly high school maths concepts are used. Study the NCERT Books of class 9th to 12th.

Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (DI): How to Prepare for Data Interpretation and Logical by Arun Sharma and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning for the CAT by Arun Sharma are some of the most popular books used by CAT aspirants for strengthening preparation for CAT.

Verbal Ability (VA): You can purchase Wren and Martin to start your preparations. A good dictionary like Oxford's Dictionary or Webster's Dictionary would also be of great help. CAT aspirants are strictly advised to read at least two English newspapers daily. CAT aspirants should also read English magazines and other books available to increase your vocabulary and general knowledge. The habit of reading newspapers and books would also help you a lot during the time of group discussion and personal interview.

CAT 2011 Application Process

A CAT aspirant have to obtain CAT 2011 voucher from any of the branches of Axis Bank from Wednesday, 17 August 2011 to Monday, 26 September 2011.
Note: You can only buy one CAT 2011 Voucher irrespective of the number of B-schools you are applying to.

CAT 2011 Registration Process

After purchasing the CAT 2011 Voucher, you must log on to the website www.catiim.in to register for CAT 2011. You can register and schedule for the CAT 2011 from Wednesday, 17 August 2011 to Wednesday, 28 September 2011. You can get complete details of the registration process from the website given. You can download the CAT 2011 registration instructions from Here. Please follow these instructions for a safe and secure CAT 2011 registration.

CAT 2011 Fees

The CAT 2011 test fees is Rs.1400 for general candidates and Rs.700 for SC and ST candidates.

CAT 2011 Test Centres

CAT 2011 will be held across 33 centres across India. You can choose any 1 centre according to your convenience. However, IIMs reserve the right to change or cancel any test venue / centre and / or change the test window time and dates at their own discretion. Click Here for the list of CAT 2011 test centres.

CAT 2011 Admission Process

Once the CAT 2011 results are out, the short-listed candidates will be called for Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) by different IIMs. The candidates will also be sent letters by respective IIMs. The CAT 2011 scorecard will be mailed to the candidates in January 2012. The CAT score will remain valid for admission to PGPs of IIMs only for the year 2011-12, unless specified otherwise. For complete details on CAT admission process, Click Here

CAT 2011 Syllabus - CAT 2011 Test Pattern

• Quantitative Ability (QA) - The questions are designed to stress more on reasoning skills of the candidates, rather than on their computational skills. The level of difficulty of this section is perceived to be higher because the questions are not only lengthy to read but at times require more effort in terms of understanding and solving.
• Data Interpretation (DI) - As the name suggests, this section presents data to the candidate in forms such as caselets, pie diagrams, bar graphs, etc and questions are set to evaluate the candidate’s skills at analyzing the given information. Data Sufficiency questions in this section are based on basic mathematics (at times Data Sufficiency is a part of the Quantitative Ability section).
• Verbal Ability (VA) - also includes Reading Comprehension (RC) - This section explores your understanding of the English Language and also tests you on Reasoning Skills. The questions in this section typically comprise sentence correction, sentence sequencing, verbal reasoning etc. CAT usually has 6-8 passages in the RC section, with an overall length of 4500 to 5500 words and about 50 questions to answer in a span of about 30 minutes. However this too can vary according to the level of difficulty of questions.

* Students are advised to take a note - CAT syllabus and test pattern keeps changing every year with number of questions varying between 60 to 150. Even the duration of the test is not fixed and keeps changing from 2 hours to 2.5 hours. CAT 2009 and CAT 2010 had 60 questions each divided into 3 sections with 20 questions each. The duration of CAT 2009 and CAT 2010 was 135 minutes each i.e. 2 hours 15 minutes. Additional orientation time of 15 minutes was provided to each student for getting themselves acquainted with the computer and how to use the system to answer questions. Though this was an optional time given to students.

CAT 2011 is also expected to have 60 questions. 60 questions divided into three sections with 20 questions each. Though in Verbal Ability (VA), around 10 to 12 questions are of Reading Comprehension (RC). From 2009 onwards, no marks are alloted to the questions and students can choose whichever questions they want to attempt depending on their understanding and knowledge.

CAT 2011 Eligibility Criteria

A CAT 2011 aspirant must hold a Bachelor's Degree with at least 50% marks or equivalent CGPA (45% in case of the candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) / Scheduled Tribe (ST) or Persons with Disability (PWD) category) from any recognized University of India. If the aspirant is in the final year of Bachelor’s degree/equivalent qualification and have completed degree requirement and are awaiting results, he/she can also apply.

For some programmes offered by IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and some other premier management institutes, the eligibility criteria is different. Complete information on CAT 2011 Eligibility Criteria is available here.

CAT 2011 Results

CAT 2011 results are expected on Wednesday, January 11, 2012. CAT 2011 results will be available on http://www.examresults.net/management/cat/

CAT 2009 - CAT Goes Online

Since 2009, CAT has been converted into a Computer based test instead of a paper-pencil test. However, CAT 2009 faced serious problems and criticism from all quarters due to computer glitches, virus attacks and mis-management. Here's a recap of what happened -

• CAT makes Online Debut
• CAT on the computer this year, fewer students interested
• Online CAT 2009 faces hiccups on Day 1
• Day 2 of Online CAT 2009 - Technical glitches hit 24 centres
• CAT fiasco continues - 3 cities affected on Day Three
• Sibal slams IIMs, orders probe over CAT glitch
• CAT 2009 a dent on the image of IIMs
  

After CAT 2009, we immediately raised the question - Should CAT 2010 be an Online Test or a Paper-Pencil Test? The poll is still open for CAT 2011 and our readers are free to share their views on the discussion board.

If you have any questions related to CAT 2011, you can post all your questions in our Questions & Answers section for CAT and our counselors will reply you immediately.

IIM Group Discussion (GD) after CAT

A good percentile in CAT is just the first step towards seeking admission in the IIMs and other B-Schools of repute. Group Discussions and Personal Interview for CAT and IIMs or GD/PI as is commonly known is equally important.

NNE has therefore tried its best to give relevant Group Discussion Tips for CAT and IIM aspirants. Many consider Group Discussion to be just a kind of debate. However, this notion is not true. The article on Group Discussion Tips gives you useful tips on preparing for Group Discussion for CAT and one of the best ways to do so is reading.

You should read a lot on various topics ranging from science to current affairs to management and sports. This article also gives you a list of some of the important GD Topics for CAT and IIMs. If you are looking for answers on how to present yourself for a CAT Group Discussion, then this article will surely provide you with some vital clues on language, communication skills, eye contact and gestures.

Many IIMs like IIM-A hold discussions on case studies instead of Group Discussions. Examples of Case Studies at IIMs and ways of approaching a case study in the IIMs are also discussed in this article. So go ahead and read more on the Do's and Don’ts for Group Discussion in CAT!

IIM Interview After CAT

Personal Interview for CAT and IIMs is the final key to secure your place in the IIMs. For many it could be the first time that they are appearing for Personal Interview for CAT. This article on Personal Interview Tips for CAT will help you guide through perhaps the most important interview of your life.

The article discusses the approach to CAT / IIM interview which is not just a question–answer session. It gives you tips and tricks on how to handle questions in IIM interview. The panel also, at times, throws questions from areas which are not your expertise. The IIM / CAT panel tests you not on the subject but how best you can handle stress.

Tips like these and many more on CAT and IIM personal interview are given in this article. You can also check some of the sample questions and answers for IIM admission in this article.